langchain-ai/deepagents · error · ValueError

Context tool names conflict with criteria-agent tools: {name

Error message

Context tool names conflict with criteria-agent tools: {names}.

What it means

`_create_goal_criteria_agent` builds an internal sub-agent whose tool namespace contains reserved names: the structured-output tool and, when a repository backend is attached, the repository tool set. If caller-supplied `context_tools` include a tool whose name collides with a reserved name, the factory raises this `ValueError` listing the conflicting names.

Source

Thrown at libs/code/deepagents_code/goal_rubric.py:1685

        if isinstance(tool, BaseTool):
            normalized_context_tools.append(tool)
        elif inspect.iscoroutinefunction(tool):
            normalized_context_tools.append(
                StructuredTool.from_function(coroutine=tool)
            )
        else:
            normalized_context_tools.append(StructuredTool.from_function(func=tool))

    reserved_names = {_STRUCTURED_OUTPUT_TOOL_NAME}
    if repository_backend is not None:
        reserved_names.update(_REPOSITORY_TOOL_NAMES)
    conflicting_names = sorted(
        tool.name for tool in normalized_context_tools if tool.name in reserved_names
    )
    if conflicting_names:
        names = ", ".join(conflicting_names)
        msg = f"Context tool names conflict with criteria-agent tools: {names}."
        raise ValueError(msg)
    middleware: list[AgentMiddleware[Any, Any]] = [
        ConfigurableModelMiddleware(
            persist_model_state=False,
            cli_max_retries=cli_max_retries,
        ),
        _GoalContextFallbackMiddleware(),
        _WebSearchBudgetMiddleware(),
        _CriteriaContextBudgetMiddleware(),
        CodeModelRetryMiddleware(max_retries=model_retries),
    ]
    if repository_backend is not None:
        # Annotated (not `cast`) so the type checker validates each literal
        # against `FsToolName` and rejects a typo at check time.
        repository_tools: list[FsToolName] = ["ls", "read_file", "glob", "grep"]
        if fs_tools is not None:
            repository_tools = [name for name in repository_tools if name in fs_tools]
        middleware.extend(
            [

View on GitHub (pinned to a1af029e6e)

Solutions

1. Filter `context_tools` to exclude any tool whose name is in the reserved set before calling the factory.
2. Rename your custom tool to a distinct name that doesn't collide with repository or structured-output tool names.
3. If you intended repository tools in the sub-agent, pass the `repository_backend` instead of hand-listing its tools as context tools.

Example fix

// before
agent = create_goal_criteria_agent(context_tools=all_parent_tools)
// after
reserved = {structured_output_tool_name, *repository_tool_names}
agent = create_goal_criteria_agent(context_tools=[t for t in all_parent_tools if t.name not in reserved])

reserved = {structured_output_tool_name} | set(repository_tool_names if repository_backend else [])
conflicts = sorted(t.name for t in context_tools if t.name in reserved)
if conflicts:
    raise ValueError(f"rename or drop tools conflicting with reserved names: {conflicts}")

def has_no_reserved_names(context_tools, reserved_names: set[str]) -> bool:
    return not any(tool.name in reserved_names for tool in context_tools)

try:
    agent = create_goal_criteria_agent(context_tools=tools, repository_backend=backend)
except ValueError as e:
    if "conflict with criteria-agent tools" in str(e):
        tools = [t for t in tools if t.name not in reserved_names]
        agent = create_goal_criteria_agent(context_tools=tools, repository_backend=backend)

When it happens

Trigger: Calling `create_goal_criteria_agent`/`create_cli_agent` with `context_tools` containing a tool named like the structured-output tool or one of the repository tools (`_REPOSITORY_TOOL_NAMES`), including tools auto-wrapped from functions/coroutines whose function names collide.

Common situations: Passing the parent agent's full tool list (including repository/file tools) as context tools instead of a filtered subset; a custom tool accidentally named the same as a reserved repository tool; allowlist-intersection code that fails to exclude reserved names.

Related errors

• Invalid {SERVER_ENV_PREFIX}ALLOW_FS_TOOLS value: unknown fil
• shell_allow_list must be None or non-empty
• Invalid interpreter_ptc string {ptc!r}; expected 'safe', 'al
• interpreter_ptc list entries cannot include 'all'; use 'all'
• Could not parse embedded resource block. Block expected eith

AI-assisted analysis of langchain-ai/deepagents@a1af029e6e (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5bfe610cb7037262. Report an issue: GitHub.